The History of St. Rose Parish

While many of our Catholic parishes in California trace their antecedents through the early chain of Missions established by the Franciscan Fathers under the original presidency of Fr. Junipero Serra, St. Rose parish is the daughter of the Church of the Assumption, Tomales. For many years Catholics in and near Santa Rosa were few, and as priests were scarce, Mass was offered on the rarest of occasions. It would seem that the first priest to offer Mass on a somewhat regular basis in Santa Rosa was Father Louis Rossi, the pastor of Tomales, who began celebrating Mass here about 1859. Mass was offered in a hotel owned by Patrick Colgan. In 1860 a small church was erected on a lot situated on Fifth Street near B Street. The lot was donated by Julio Carrillo. The wooden church was small and poorly furnished and at first, had only eight pews. Father Rossi attended his mission church at intervals until 1862 when ill health forced him to retire. He was succeeded as pastor of Tomales by Father Patrick Walsh, who came to Santa Rosa about once a month for Mass. Tomales had a quick succession of pastors: Fathers Thomas Fagan, Peter Bermingham, Anthony Debase, William Slattery (who enlarged the Santa Rosa church in 1869 and added a spire in 1872), Francis Kelly and Andrew Cullen.

In 1876 the number of Catholics had increased to such an extent as to require a resident priest. In response, Archbishop Joseph Sadoc Alemany established St. Rose as a parish whose boundaries then embraced the present parishes of Healdsburg, Cloverdale, Sebastopol and Guerneville. The first pastor was Father Peter J. Kaiser who previously had been pastor of St. Boniface Church, San Francisco. Father Kaiser died a year after becoming our first pastor. Father John M. Conway, who hailed from Brown County, Ohio, succeeded Father Kaiser in 1877. By 1880, the Christian College (a Campbellite school opened on September 23, 1872) was purchased by Father Conway. He invited the Ursuline Sisters from his old home in Ohio to come and establish a school. That same year he moved the church from Fifth Street to a site on B Street next to the Ursuline College. The county population began to grow with the result that the Archbishop divided the parish in 1884 and established the parish of St. John's in Healdsburg. Fr. Conway continued his expansion of parish facilities when in 1888 he purchased the grounds for Calvary Cemetery in Bennett Valley. Due to ill health, Fr. Conway was forced to resign as shepherd of the parish in 1890. Suffering as an invalid for some years, he died August 1, 1896.

Although the parish of St. Sebastian's in Sebastopol was established in 1897 from territory taken from St. Rose, our parish continued to grow, necessitating the building of a new church. The old church was again moved, this time closer to the Ursuline College, in order to allow construction of the stone church with which we are familiar. Work was begun in June, 1900 and the cornerstone was laid October 28, 1900. The event was reported in the San Francisco Examiner:

"With appropriate ceremony the cornerstone of the new Catholic church, dedicated to St. Rose, was laid this afternoon by Archbishop Riordan. Hundreds of people from Santa Rosa, from other places in the county and from San Francisco thronged the approaches to the edifice now in course of erection on B Street. It occupies the site where, for close on half a century, the old church stood. The procession of clergy, choir and acolytes started from the old church, the choir meanwhile singing the hymn commencing 'Come Holy Ghost'. The Archbishop was attended by his secretary, the Rev. Father P. Mulligan; the Rev. J.M. Cassin, Rector of St. Rose's parish, Santa Rosa; the Rev. Father J.L. O'Neil of St. Dominic's Church, San Francisco; the Rev. Father Leahy of St. Vincent's Church, Petaluma, and the Rev. Father Mackey of Tomales, assisted by the Rev. John Rogers. Archbishop Riordan, in laying the cornerstone, was assisted by D. Sheerin of San Francisco, the donor of the handsome stone. Nearly half a century ago, when the old building of St. Rose's Church was planned, Mr. Sheerin was the first one to subscribe to the building fund and aided in carrying out the work. Consequently there was a significance in the duty he performed today. After the Archbishop had blessed the stone, the choir rendered the 'Hymn of Sacred Heart.' The choir was composed of a quartet of male voices from St. Mary's College, Oakland, composed of John P. Plover, James Blossom, R. Michel and A. Porter. The other singers were R. Guichard and James Towey, also of St. Mary's College: Dr. Mulcahey, Paul Noonan and James Kelly of Santa Rosa. Mrs. J.P. Berry presided at the organ. The sermon was delivered by the Rev. J.L. O'Neil, O.P. of San Francisco. This morning Archbishop Riordan celebrated Mass at 8 o'clock in old St. Rose's. From here he went to Sebastopol, where he administered confirmation to a class of seventy five candidates. "

The completed church with a capacity of approximately 400 was dedicated by Archbishop Patrick Riordan on July 21, 1901. Shea and Shea of San Francisco were the architects. Peter Moroni was the contractor. There is some confusion over the donor of the stone. The Examiner story claims the donor to be D. Sheerin. Others say the donor was Captain J.M. McDonald of San Francisco. All agree the stone came from a local quarry. Although there were formal architects and contractors on the job, local parishioners always claimed Father Cassin was "chief of construction." It was Fr. Cassin who insisted on the oversized steel reinforced foundations and walls. The strength of the construction was demonstrated in the earthquake of April 18, 1906. Every other brick and stone edifice in Santa Rosa was badly damaged and most of them totally destroyed. St. Rose Church came through the dreadful ordeal unscathed with the exception of a few stones which were shaken loose from a cornice. The total bill for repairs amounted to only $200.

Tom Gregory in his 1911 history of Sonoma County states: "...in fact, Rev. J.M. Cassin may have had ...a premonition as he saw ...the ground broken for the cornerstone, June 1900, of the great disaster of April, 1906...its foundation, a deep bed of cement, and walls reinforced with steel cables." Under the cornerstone were three symbols gathered by Fr. Cassin in his travels: a small stone from Bethlehem, an olive wood cross from Jerusalem and a marble cross from the catacombs in Rome. Father Cassin's rounds involved long journeys on horseback, stage and buggy to minister to his far flung flock. On the occasion of his Golden Jubilee, the Press Democrat wrote: "Winter and autumn, spring and summer, in sunshine and in shadow, in sorrow and in happiness, in smiles and in success, in meetings and in partings, he has been to many an omnipresent friend. Men, women and children, no matter their faith, join in the general expression of congratulations to Father Cassin on the celebration of his Golden Jubilee." Father Cassin, after nearly 30 years as pastor of St. Rose, retired in 1919 from the active management of the parish and lived in the rectory until he died on June 19, 1932, after 56 years of priestly labor.

In December of 1919, the Rev. Francis V. Long was appointed administrator of St. Rose. He built the original rectory in 1922. In 1930, Fr. Long was appointed pastor of St. Anselm's Church, San Anselmo. Upon the transfer of Fr. Long, the Rev. Anthony Henaghan was appointed administrator. Unfortunately, after a brief five months, he died in a fatal automobile accident.

Father Heneghan was succeeded by the Rev. Henry B. Raters. Fr. Raters had been pastor of Our Lady of Loretto parish in Novato. Immediately upon his appointment, Fr. Raters purchased property from the Ursuline nuns for the building of a parochial school. The school opened its first term on September 14, 1931 and was solemnly dedicated on October 18, 1931 by Archbishop Edward J. Hama. Father Raters was a jolly, rotund man with a taste for good cigars and an incredible memory for telephone numbers. His father came from Oldenburg in Germany, his mother from Nijmegen in Holland.

It was a chance meeting with the late Archbishop Edward Hanna that brought Fr. Raters to Santa Rosa. The Archbishop, visiting the Catholic University of Fribourg in Switzerland, spotted a young seminarian and said, "I can use you in San Francisco. How about it?" He was ordained for the Archdiocese of San Francisco in 1915. Father Raters was an outstanding linguist, speaking German, French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, Latin and English.

The population of Santa Rosa grew rapidly following World War II necessitating the founding of another parish. Consequently, in 1950, St. Rose was again divided when Archbishop John J. Mitty established St. Eugene's Parish. St. Eugene's took its title from the patron saint of the reigning Pontiff, Pope Pius XII (Eugenio Pacelli). The year 1952 marked the 75th anniversary of the parish's establishment. The Diamond Jubilee was celebrated on Sunday, April 27th, with a Solemn Mass at which Archbishop Mitty presided. Worn out after 31 years as pastor of St. Rose, and after seeing to the pastoral needs of a parish that continued to grow, Father Raters retired. Although a "big" man, he never enjoyed robust health yet he continued to administer the parish until he decided he had better ask the Archbishop for permission to retire. Ill health pursued him even in retirement and he died September 23, 1965, mourned by all the citizens of Santa Rosa.

The Rt. Rev. Msgr. Walter J. Tappe succeeded Father Raters as pastor on June 24, 1961. Eight months after Msgr. Tappe's appointment as pastor of St. Rose, Pope John XXIII established the Diocese of Santa Rosa, naming Msgr. Leo T. Maher the first Bishop. Bishop Maher appointed Msgr. Tappe his Vicar General. In addition to assisting Bishop Maher in the building of the new diocese, Msgr. Tappe undertook the building of the parish convent, the parish office building of the new diocese, (he had spent every morning in the Chancery office). Msgr. Tappe undertook the building of the parish convent, the parish office building and priests' residence, the new wing of the Church with its famous windows, mosaic, sanctuary and baptistry, the parking lot, the landscaping of the parish grounds and the complete refurbishing of the parochial school.

The parish continued to grow at an astounding rate. At this time, there were 2900 known families in the parish.Over 6000 parishioners would attend Mass on Christmas and Easter while the average Sunday Mass attendance was 8600. Msgr. Tappe then petitioned Bishop Mahar to divide the parish and the Bishop agreed.Thus, another "daughter" parish was formed, this time in the Western part of the city. Nine hundred and thirty two St. Rose families became the "founding" parishioners of the new Resurrection Parish. Our parish was singularly honored when Pope Paul VI appointed Msgr. Tappe a Pastor/Observer at the Second Vatican Council. He was one of 98 pastors chosen from throughout the world. The parish was again honored on November 18,1966 when Pope Paul, at a Public Congregation of the Council, invited Msgr. Tappe to celebrate Mass with him around the great Papal Altar in St. Peter's Basilica. Msgr. Tappe was chosen to represent all the parish clergy of the world. On this occasion, the Holy Father promulgated the Council's Constitution on Divine Revelation and its Decree on the Lay Apostolate.

St. Rose has been served by many splendid assistant pastors, too many to number here. One, however, must be mentioned. On June 11, 1926, a young man named Thomas A. Connolly, was ordained a priest. His first assignment was to St. Rose. He later became Archbishop of Seattle.